The present invention relates to copy production machines, particularly of the convenience copier type, having the capability of producing a succession of copy jobs (which may be unrelated) in a succession of copy runs and of controlling a succession of such copy runs as a single copy job.
Transfer electrographic copy production machines as well as other copy production machines of diverse types, employ various forms of image transformation for putting an image on a sheet of copy paper. Usually an image in latent form is generated and transferred to a copy sheet. In some convenience copier types of copy production machines only one run of copies can be produced automatically, i.e., an original document containing a single image is placed on a document glass. Upon actuation of a start button or by suitable document sensing apparatus, the copy production machine is activated to produce a given number of copies in accordance with the operator-inserted number in a control panel on the copier. When the selected number of the copies have been produced, the copy production machine usually stops.
However, in some instances, a semiautomatic document feed (SADF) enables an operator to insert a succession of original documents in a semiautomatic mode onto the document glass. The copy production machine senses the presence of a waiting original document and automatically restarts to make a second run. A succession of related original documents can be conveniently termed a copy job, i.e., an operator wants to produce a given number of copies of a given number of original documents. Each copy job is characterized by one or more copy runs.
Some copy production machines have what is automatic recirculating document feed which produces collated sets without collating the produced copies, i.e., each collated set is made separately from the originals. In this case, a copy job includes a plurality of successive runs producing a plurality of sets of documents. As used herein, the term "set of documents" is referred to as a subjob to be separted by a separation sheet, for example. When an automatic document feed is used to feed the original documents to the copy production machine, a subjob is considered as a complete job for the copy production machine. The automatic document feed links a succession of such jobs into a complete copy job.
Some copy production machines usually have a plurality of copy paper sources, commonly referred to as the main supply and the auxiliary supply. Generally, the main supply has a capability of storing greater number of copy sheets than the auxiliary supply. By operator selection the copy production machine will select copy sheets from either of the copy sheet supplies. In some machines, a roll of paper provides a source of copy sheets, a plurality of rolls may be provided, or a combination of rolls and precut sheets of copy paper may be utilized as a plurality of sources of copy paper.
One feature of copy production machines is that collators for collating produced copies can be attached to such machines. Such collating apparatus is usually quite expensive. Accordingly, it is desired in order to control cost, to minimize the size of the attached collator. When the collator has reduced size, the copy producing capability of the copy production machine may be limited by the collator capacity. Also, it may be desired not to have a collator, which often occurs in a relatively small office where collating copies is a minor requirement.
For operator convenience, it is desirable to have the copy production machine produce as many copy jobs as possible without intervention by the operator, i.e., without requiring the operator to remove produced copies from the output portion of the copy production machine during a copy job.